Vivian Heredia works in the kitchen at McCharles House, a tea house in Tustin.

McCharles House, a tea house in Tustin, is owned and operated by a mother-daughter team of entrepreneurs; Audrey Heredia, 73, and Vivian Heredia, 52, of Tustin.

Vivian Heredia tends to the backyard garden at McCharles House, a tea house in Tustin, as her mother and business partner, Audrey Heredia, adjusts her daughter's chef jacket.

A gazebo that once called the Disneyland Hotel home is the centerpiece of the McCharles House's rustic backyard garden.

Vivian Heredia tends to the backyard garden at McCharles House, a tea house in Tustin.

Noah Elias plays with his iPhone and enjoys a cup of tea at McCharles House, a tea house in Tustin, Monday. Elias, a 42-year-old artist from Santa Ana says he has frequented McCharles House with family and friends.

Remnants of a satisfied customer sit on a table at McCharles House, a mother-daughter owned tea house in Tustin

Vivian Heredia and Noah Elias exchange pleasantries at McCharles House, a tea house in Tustin, Monday. Elias, a 42-year-old artist from Santa Ana says he has frequented McCharles House with family and friends since he was 14 years old.

Audrey Heredia, left, and daughter Vivian Heredia share a laugh in the rustic detached lodge at their mother-daughter venture: McCharles House, a tea house in Tustin.

Vivian Heredia tends to the backyard garden at McCharles House, a tea house in Tustin, as her mother and business partner, Audrey Heredia, finishes shutting down their establishment's, intimate, detached lodge.

Vivian Heredia pours tea for Noah Elias at McCharles House, a tea house in Tustin, Monday. Elias, a 42-year-old artist from Santa Ana says he has frequented McCharles House with family and friends since he was 14 years old.

Audrey Heredia, right, and daughter Vivian Heredia stand beside their "inspiration wall," which is adorned with pictures, quotes and other visuals the mother-daughter entrepreneurs hope will influence the future of their venture, McCharles House, a tea house in Tustin.

An "inspiration wall" is adorned with pictures, quotes and other visuals mother-daughter entrepreneurs Audrey Heredia and Vivian Heredia hope will influence the future of their venture, McCharles House, a tea house in Tustin.

As a teenager, Vivian Heredia and her four siblings spent many weekends working at the “farm,” the family nickname for their mother’s dream home, the historical McCharles House built in 1885 in what is now Old Town Tustin.

“It was love at first sight,” Audrey Heredia, now 73, said of the Victorian home on C Street, which was named for building contractor David L. McCharles, who built the dwelling for his schoolteacher wife, Florence, and their son, Carl. After Mary and Charles Strader bought the house in 1948, it was a preschool for 30 years.

The Heredia family lived nearby, and Audrey Heredia owned an art studio on Main Street, frequently passing the McCharles House. Carlos and Audrey jumped at the chance to buy it for $130,000 as soon as it hit the market in 1979, not intending to live there but to fulfill Audrey’s dream to own it.

At that time, she didn’t imagine that she and daughter Vivian would one day convert the McCharles House into a tearoom and restaurant.

The family spent weekends scraping seven layers of paint off the walls and refurbishing the place according to Audrey’s plans.

“Dad always stepped back and let mom make all the decisions,” said Vivian, now 51. “And if he hadn’t, she would have done it anyway.”

Initially, Audrey set up an art studio upstairs and rented space to other entrepreneurs with dreams: a book seller, a publisher, a children’s clothing retailer.

But while the other siblings went on to other careers, Vivian, who studied entrepreneurship at USC, remained, and mother and daughter opened the restaurant in the house in 1985.

“We’re of like minds; it obviously has worked,” Audrey said of the 28-year partnership.

Vivian added, “It’s a joy, a pleasure. I tell people that I went to McCharles University.”

Initially, the McCharles House was a traditional tearoom. Customers made reservations, were seated at a specific table and 10 to 15 staffers waited on them.

One of the early customers was fine art painter Noah Elias, 42, who went to the McCharles House for tea with his mother, sister and grandmother when it first opened and continues to visit regularly today.

“I am an artist; I own my own business and pride myself on finding places that have a magical essence about them,” the Santa Ana resident said. “Anybody can serve tea. Anybody can own a house. But it’s how they do it at McCharles House that makes it one of the last gems in Orange County.”

As the restaurant thrived, mother and daughter refurbished and added to the house and 10,000-square-foot grounds.

They replaced the back parking lot with gardens, converted a porch into a drawing room, planted natural gardens with meandering paths and built a mountain-style lodge for private parties and quiet meetings. Audrey was so particular about the Sequoia Lodge, as she named it, that she made the contractor build it twice.

“They have been wonderful custodians of that house with the remodeling and beautiful gardens,” Linda Jennings of the Tustin Preservation Conservancy said. “It enhances the cultural resource overlay district.”

Guests started giving the Heredias furnishings for the house. One woman gave an elegant dining table, others contributed chandeliers. A Disney employee arranged for the wedding gazebo from the Disneyland Hotel to be moved to the McCharles House after the hotel remodeled.

The dwelling became a favorite for home and garden magazines, including Victoria and Bon Appétit. Mother and daughter were regular guests on “The Christopher Lowell Show,” an interior design programming on the Discovery Channel.

In 2008, Vivian became very ill and had to step away from the business. Audrey didn’t want to run the tearoom herself, so for several years the McCharles House was closed.

“It was a very prominent place to go for tea, very revered in this area,” Jennings said. “People used to have tea or lunch there every day. They missed it.”

Audrey said she and her daughter didn’t contemplate selling the McCharles House. Instead, the hiatus gave the pair a different perspective on life and business.

Doctors gave Vivian the go-ahead for a soft reopening in January 2011.

“She finally was given a free rein to celebrate Mother’s Day of that year (right after celebrating the McCharles House’s 26th anniversary),” Audrey said. “That was a wonderful Mother’s Day gift to me, to know that she was well.”

“I’m not the same business owner I was before,” Vivian said. Her mother quickly added, “Nor am I. There’s so much that’s not important to argue about.”

One of the most significant changes is that the McCharles House is open less often – only 13 days in May, for instance, and 11 days in June. Monthly schedules of open days are posted on the restaurant’s website.

The pair host “Someday Get-Togethers” in which guests are handed a glass of punch and invited to stroll through the grounds rather than sit at one table. Vivian leads a group cooking session in the kitchen.

“We cater mostly to women. We share ideas,” she explained. “It’s not just about food. It’s not McCharles Restaurant. It’s more than that; people who come here know that.”

Audrey said, “It’s like having people come into our homes. We tell them stories. People have come to McCharles House for years. They compare what it was before. Now it’s special.”

Longtime customer Elias agreed. The temporary closure “was the smartest thing they ever did; it’s better now. People tend to take things for granted. When people go there now, everything is much more intentional.”

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